1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile devices. In particular, the present invention relates to sending and receiving fax transmittals using mobile devices.
2. Background of the Invention
The old faithful standby for transferring copies of existing paper documents across networks is the facsimile (or fax) machine. Fax machines have existed since the 1970s, and are still in use today. Generally, a fax machine has an image sensor that uses light to scan a material to be faxed, a fax modem that converts the scanned data into digital format or vice versa, a phone line for the transmission of the fax transmittal, and a printer that produces printouts of received faxes. Various compression techniques can be used to transmit the fax transmittal across a telephone line. The data is transmitted using electrical pulses that represent black and white dots on the scanned image, wherein the fax transmittal is reproduced at the destination by printing dots corresponding to the received pulses. Fax machines set up connections with each other across telephone lines by using a “handshake” where the machines agree on a speed and a type of transmission.
Fax technology has faced increasing competition from internet based alternatives. Specifically, mobile devices, e-readers, and broadband networks enable exchange of information in all forms. The speed of transmission over modern network, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) network, is several magnitudes faster than the speed at which fax machines communicate. However, fax machines still retain some advantages. Sensitive material transmitted over the internet could potentially be intercepted. Further, the laws of some countries do not recognize electronic signatures, while faxed contracts with copies of signatures are valid. Moreover, a general mistrust of electronic devices exists and stems from hard drive failures, network failures, data corruption, etc., resulting in additional comfort and safety by relying on paper copies. Therefore, fax machines enjoy continued support in businesses.
However, fax technology has not evolved much relative to the evolution of mobile technology. Fax machines are bulky, tied to land lines, and therefore immobile. Further, they are not ubiquitously available. For instance, a corporate user cannot easily access fax machines while traveling. Several other drawbacks inherent to faxes will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.
Existing methods to mitigate these drawbacks include sending faxes over the internet, using mobile devices as fax modems, Fax over IP (FoIP), etc. For instance, a user can scan and upload a document to a fax server across a network. The fax server transmits the fax to a traditional fax machine using known techniques. Alternatively, a mobile device can be coupled to a computer to be used as a fax modem. The computer uses the mobile device as a network interface to dial out to the fax machine and transmit the scanned image to the destination fax machine. Fax over IP involves sending packets of data across an IP network to another IP-enabled destination, wherein the received packets are used to reconstruct the image and print the transmittal.
However, these known techniques have their own issues. For instance, faxing over the internet requires, first, an internet connection. Second, it requires a user to upload the fax transmittal to a secondary server on the internet. Besides the obvious security issues involved, this still requires the use of an intermediary between the source and destination, and is therefore not as faithful or ideal to the original fax method that uses a direct connection between the two devices. In addition, using the phone as a modem has its own issue, namely, that two devices are used to send the fax: a computer, and a mobile device. Further the computer needs to be coupled to a scanner in order to convert an existing paper document into a fax transmittal. Finally, Fax over IP requires that both source and destination devices be IP-enabled. This renders FoIP incompatible with existing fax machines in use today.
What is needed, therefore, is the ability to create and transmit fax transmittals from a mobile device to another device across a network, including fax machines.